SARASOTA – Emilio Nava remained red-hot on a sun-splashed Sunday afternoon by capturing the crown at this year’s Elizabeth Moore Sarasota Open.
Nava defeated Canadian Liam Draxl 6-2, 7-6 (2) on the Nick Bollettieri Court in the final at the Sarasota Sports Club. After Draxl won the first two points of the second-set tiebreaker, the California native and Los Angeles resident reeled off seven consecutive points for the victory.
Nava’s triumph in Sarasota was his third straight on the ATP Challenger Tour. The 23-year-old right-hander will be gunning for his fourth straight title beginning on Tuesday at the Tallahassee Open.
The fifth-seeded Nava beat the top-seeded Eliot Spizzirri 7-6 (5), 6-4 in his semifinal match on Saturday. He entered the Sarasota Open ranked No. 169 in the world.
“I have been doing a good job of staying calm during matches,” Nava said. “I’m just trying to have some fun. I’m engaging with the crowd. They are some super-cool people. I just want to knock some balls around and have some fun.”
Sunday’s final was less than fun for the seventh-seeded Draxl, who was ranked No. 176 before the Sarasota Open. Also a 23-year-old right-hander, Draxl got off to a sluggish start, losing the final four games of the first set.
However, the former tennis team captain at the University of Kentucky found new life in the second set, jumping out to a 3-0 lead and breaking Nava’s serve twice.
“In the second set, I just decided to put the wall up,” Draxl said. “I just tried to fight hard and make a lot of balls and make it difficult for him.
“I knew he was playing better than me, but he still had to close this thing out. People can get nervous trying to close out a tournament, and I wasn’t going to make it easy for him.
“I gave myself a chance. I left it all out there. When you lose like this, you learn some things.”
After falling behind 3-0 in the second set, Nava went on to win four straight games.
“I came out on fire, and he came out a little slow,” Nava said. “I just tried to stay calm when he came out strong in the second set. Even if I was going to lose the second set, I wanted to get in a rhythm for the third.”
Nava’s three consecutive titles have all been on clay. He won ATP Challenger events in Concepcion, Chile, and Asuncion, Paraguay, before winning at Sarasota.
“Emilio is playing with lots of confidence these days,” said Draxl, who is also bound for the Tallahassee Open this week.
“He’s playing at a very high ...
